Major discount store with 178 shops confirms it will shut another store as closing down sale launched
The Original Factory Shop (TOFS) branch in Caldicot, Wales, is pulling down its shutters for the final time with stock reduced to clear.
The retailer confirmed the closure in a Facebook post, with an employee commenting that a closure date is yet to be confirmed.
The Sun has asked TOFS if a closure date has been set and we will update this story when we have heard back.
Shoppers finding out the shop will shut have been left distraught.
Posting on Facebook, one said: "Love TOFS...really sad you're closing...thanks to all the staff, always so friendly and helpful."
A second said: "Oh no, I'm gutted, I come over from Weston-Super-Mare to house sit and I absolutely love this shop so many bargains. Very sad!"
Meanwhile, a third commented: "A loss for Caldicot with another shop closing down."
A fourth added: "Village of my birth so sad to witness such change."
The Caldicot closure comes after a raft of TOFS shops shut across the UK and as the firm goes through a major restructuring.
The retailer, a one-stop shop for all kinds of goods including electrical items, toiletries and clothing, recently announced two stores are closing in Kirkham, Lancashire, and Blairgowrie, Scotland.
The Kirkham branch is set to shut in August while a closure date for the Blairgowrie shop is not yet clear.
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Stores in Bridlington and Caernarfon are also both closing on July 20 while a store in Cupar, Fife, is shutting on July 27.
Since June, 10 TOFS shops in total have shut across the UK including in England, Wales and Scotland.
A number have launched giant closing down sales to clear remaining stock with some offering discounts of up to 80%.
We've included a list of all 19 shops that have closed or are closing this year below.
The Original Factory Shop closures
Milford Haven, Pembrokeshire - June 26
Perth - June 28
Chester Le Street, County Durham - June 28
Arbroath, Angus - June 28
Kidwelly, Carmarthenshire - June 28
Pershore, Worcestershire - June 28
Normanton, West Yorkshire - June 28
Peterhead, Aberdeenshire - June 28
Shaftesbury, Dorset - June 28
Staveley, Cumbria - July 12
Bridlington - July 20
Caernarfon - July 20
Cupar, Fife - July 27
Kirkham, Lancashire - August
Middlewich, Cheshire - TBC
Blairgowrie, Scotland - TBC
Ashbourne - TBC
Heswall - TBC
Caldicot, Wales - TBC
As well as closing a number of shops in 2025, TOFS shuttered branches in 2024. These are the locations that closed:
Brightlingsea, Essex
Bodmin, Cornwall
Chepstow, Wales
Fakenham, Norfolk
Harwich, Essex
Mildenhall, Suffolk
Padiham, Lancashire
Taunton, Somerset
Deal, Kent
Haverfordwest, Wales
What is happening with TOFS
TOFS was bought by Modella Capital in February which has since launched a restructuring effort to renegotiate rents at 88 of the retail chain's stores.
Modella, a private equity firm, is known for taking on struggling retailers, and recently acquired Hobbycraft and WHSmith 's high street shops.
Modella drew up plans to initiate a Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA) for TOFS at the end of April.
A CVA is a way of restructuring that means a business can continue trading while negotiating its debts, for example by cutting rent costs with landlords.
But a TOFS spokesperson previously told The Press and Journal a "number of loss-making stores will have to close" as part of the CVA.
TOFS' woes come as a number of other retailers struggle on the high street.
The Centre for Retail Research has described the sector as going through a "permacrisis" since the 2008 financial crash.
The centre said more than 13,000 high street stores shuttered in just 2024.
It is also predicting the number of store closures to rise this year, due to hikes to employer National Insurance and the national minimum wage in April.
RETAIL PAIN IN 2025
The British Retail Consortium predicted that the Treasury's hike to employer NICs would cost the retail sector £2.3billion.
Research published by the British Chambers of Commerce earlier this year shows that more than half of companies planned to raise prices by early April.
Separately, the Centre for Retail Research (CRR) has also warned that around 17,350 retail sites are expected to shut down this year.
It comes on the back of a tough 2024 when 13,000 shops closed their doors for good, already a 28% increase on the previous year.
Professor Joshua Bamfield, director of the CRR said: "The results for 2024 show that although the outcomes for store closures overall were not as poor as in either 2020 or 2022, they are still disconcerting, with worse set to come in 2025."
Professor Bamfield has also warned of a bleak outlook for 2025, predicting that as many as 202,000 jobs could be lost in the sector.
"By increasing both the costs of running stores and the costs on each consumer's household it is highly likely that we will see retail job losses eclipse the height of the pandemic in 2020."
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